Government Shutdown- January 19, 2018

Benevolent Leader

As anyone who has followed the news knows, Congress failed to pass a spending bill on January 19, 2018.

This article and thread is for information and discussion of the impact of the shutdown on the Disability Evaluation System, military disability compensation and benefits, and related issues. (Some of the links posted are general in nature, so there will be some overlap with discussion or information of other government services impacted by the shutdown in the links provided).

Starting off, I will say that we don't know how long this shutdown and the impasse will last. Historically, it has not lasted very long. The longest shutdown in US history was for 21 days.CNN: History of shutdowns. This time may be different. We will have to see how things progress. However, the average time for a shutdown has been a few days.

If the shutdown lasts any significant length of time, I would suspect some impact on case processing times. Folks can share their experiences. I will share what I see with the cases that I have visibility over, including those cases where I am representing members (obviously, without disclosing confidential information).

Note that this thread is about the fact of the shutdown and the impact on military members, veterans, and others. It is not a place for discussion of the politics of the shutdown, fault, or political issues. It is most pointedly not a place to discuss President Trump, Congress, the political parties, etc. Such discussion will not be looked on favorably and will result in posts discussing these issues being removed (potentially with a warning given). This site does not care about folk's political inclinations and will not take kindly to discussions about politics regarding the underlying politics. If you can't abide by these restrictions here, you may find your account suspended and/or deleted. (Every military member is welcome here, regardless of race, creed, nationality, sexual orientation or identification, etc....you serve or served, you are welcome. We don't care to get into political fights here, except as to issues that impact military disability matters and legislation impacting these issues. Please don't make me or the moderators have to police up off topic or out of bounds posts).

Benevolent Leader

Hopefully, there will not be a major impact, given that yesterday the shutdown was lifted via passage of legislation.

In the one full work day of the shutdown, I did have two instances where I saw some impact. One was with a USAF VARR, where after a SAPFC decision, the AF did not provide me directly with the decision (I received it from my client who got it from his PEBLO) and the folks at the FPEB and HQ DPAMM did not respond to requests for clarification of the suspense and for details about a revised AF Form 356 and requirements for a new AF Form 1180. The PEBLO also requested an extension from the same folks and no response was forthcoming from either inquiry, with the shutdown as the possible justification. The second was in a Court of Federal Claims case where the government/DoJ attorney requested a stay in the case based on the shutdown.

Hopefully, the impact will be minimal and not negatively impact folks (though, I also note that for some folks, longer case processing times would be favorable, so, in some instances, delay is a positive outcome).